Othello gave English “the green-eyed monster” and “wear my heart upon my sleeve,” and most of its famous lines belong to the man who lies in every one of them: Iago, who speaks the play’s poison and, at the end, refuses to speak at all.
This guide collects the most famous lines in the play, act by act, with who says each one, where it comes in the story, and what it means. For the play as a whole, see our full guide to Othello.
At a Glance
Here are the essentials about the quotations of Othello for quick reference.
Act 1 Quotes
Venice at night: an elopement, an accusation, and a plot.
“I Will Wear My Heart Upon My Sleeve for Daws to Peck At”
Iago, Act 1, scene 1, explaining to Roderigo why he serves Othello. If he ever showed his true feelings openly, “’tis not long after / But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve / For daws to peck at.” Daws are jackdaws, birds that peck at anything exposed. The phrase now means showing your feelings openly, which is the one thing Iago never does.
“I Am Not What I Am”
Iago, completing the same speech. It is his whole method in five words: every appearance he gives will be false. The line inverts the words of God in the Bible, “I am that I am,” which makes it sound almost like a creed of deception.
“An Old Black Ram Is Tupping Your White Ewe”
Iago, shouting up to Brabantio’s window in the night to tell him his daughter has eloped with Othello. The crude, racist image of animals mating is designed to enrage the old man. It shows from the first scene how Iago uses Venice’s prejudices as weapons.
“Keep Up Your Bright Swords, for the Dew Will Rust Them”
Othello, Act 1, scene 2, facing Brabantio’s armed men. He stops a street fight with a single calm line: put your swords away. It is the first time we see him, and he is everything Iago’s insults are not: dignified, fearless, and in command.
“Rude Am I in My Speech”
Othello, Act 1, scene 3, before the Senate: “Rude am I in my speech, / And little blessed with the soft phrase of peace.” He claims to be a plain-spoken soldier, and then promises “a round unvarnished tale” that proves him one of the most eloquent speakers in the play.
“She Loved Me for the Dangers I Had Passed”
Othello, ending the story of his courtship: “She loved me for the dangers I had passed, / And I loved her that she did pity them. / This only is the witchcraft I have used.” The only magic he used was his life story and her sympathy for it.
“I Do Perceive Here a Divided Duty”
Desdemona, answering her father before the Senate. She owes him her life and education, but now she owes her first loyalty to her husband. In one line she stands up to her father, the Senate, and the expectations of her city.
“Your Son-in-Law Is Far More Fair Than Black”
The Duke, trying to reconcile Brabantio to the marriage. He means that Othello’s virtue outweighs his color, and the compliment reveals the prejudice it tries to overcome, treating blackness itself as a fault.
“She Has Deceived Her Father, and May Thee”
Brabantio, leaving the Senate, warning Othello. It is a bitter parting shot from a hurt father, and Iago later turns it into a weapon, reminding Othello, “She did deceive her father, marrying you.”
“Put Money in Thy Purse”
Iago to Roderigo, repeated again and again in the same scene. Roderigo is in despair over Desdemona, and Iago tells him to sell his lands and follow her to Cyprus, with money Iago intends to take for himself.
“The Moor Is of a Free and Open Nature”
Iago, alone at the end of Act 1: “The Moor is of a free and open nature / That thinks men honest that but seem to be so, / And will as tenderly be led by th’ nose / As asses are.” He names Othello’s virtue, his trust, and plans to use it against him. He ends by vowing that “Hell and night / Must bring this monstrous birth to the world’s light.”
Act 2 Quotes
Cyprus: a reunion, a brawl, and a ruined lieutenant.
“If It Were Now to Die, ’Twere Now to Be Most Happy”
Othello, Act 2, scene 1, reunited with Desdemona in Cyprus after a storm. His happiness is so complete that he fears nothing could ever match it. The line is the height of his joy, and a warning of how far he will fall.
“Reputation, Reputation, Reputation!”
Cassio, Act 2, scene 3, after Iago gets him drunk and he loses his post in a brawl: “O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself.” For a soldier and gentleman, his good name was worth more than his life.
Act 3 Quotes
The temptation scene: in a single long conversation, Iago turns Othello’s love into murderous jealousy.
“When I Love Thee Not, Chaos Is Come Again”
Othello, Act 3, scene 3, watching Desdemona leave: “Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul / But I do love thee! And when I love thee not, / Chaos is come again.” Moments later, Iago begins his work, and the chaos Othello foresees arrives.
“Men Should Be What They Seem”
Iago, hinting that Cassio may not be honest. The line is pure irony: no one in the play is less what he seems than the man saying it.
“Who Steals My Purse Steals Trash”
Iago, on the value of a good name: “Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, / Is the immediate jewel of their souls. / Who steals my purse steals trash.” Money can be replaced; reputation cannot. He says it while planning to steal Desdemona’s.
“O, Beware, My Lord, of Jealousy! It Is the Green-Eyed Monster”
Iago, in the same scene: jealousy “is the green-eyed monster which doth mock / The meat it feeds on.” It torments the very person who feels it. He warns Othello against jealousy at the exact moment he is creating it.
“I’ll See Before I Doubt; When I Doubt, Prove”
Othello, still resisting. He will not doubt without evidence, and if he doubts, he will find proof. He adds, “she had eyes, and chose me.” It is his last moment of full trust.
“Trifles Light as Air”
Iago, alone with Desdemona’s handkerchief, which he plans to leave in Cassio’s lodging: “Trifles light as air / Are to the jealous confirmations strong / As proofs of holy writ.” To a jealous mind, the smallest thing becomes certain evidence.
“Farewell the Tranquil Mind!”
Othello, poisoned by doubt, saying goodbye to everything he was: “Farewell the tranquil mind! Farewell content!” He bids farewell to the “Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war,” and ends, “Othello’s occupation’s gone!” The phrase “pomp and circumstance” comes from this speech.
“Give Me the Ocular Proof”
Othello, turning on Iago: “Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore! / Be sure of it. Give me the ocular proof.” He demands to see it with his own eyes, proof of something that never happened, and Iago supplies substitutes.
“I Am Your Own Forever”
Iago, ending Act 3, scene 3, after Othello vows to kill Desdemona and says, “Now art thou my lieutenant.” Iago has won the post he wanted, and his reply sounds like a marriage vow, spoken to the man he is destroying.
Act 4 Quotes
False proof, open cruelty, and two women talking late at night.
“By Heaven, That Should Be My Handkerchief!”
Othello, Act 4, scene 1, hidden while Iago stages a conversation with Cassio. When Cassio’s mistress Bianca throws the handkerchief back at him, Othello recognizes it. He has his “ocular proof,” and it is entirely false.
“I Will Chop Her into Messes”
Othello, in the same scene, raging after what he thinks he has seen. The eloquent general of Act 1 now speaks in brutal fragments. Iago’s poison has changed not only what Othello believes but how he talks.
“Let Husbands Know Their Wives Have Sense Like Them”
Emilia, Act 4, scene 3, preparing Desdemona for bed. She argues that when wives go astray, husbands are to blame, and that women have the same senses, desires, and frailties as men. She ends, “The ills we do, their ills instruct us so.” It is one of the boldest speeches Shakespeare gave a woman.
Act 5 Quotes
The bedchamber: a murder, a revelation, and two very different last words.
“It Is the Cause, It Is the Cause, My Soul”
Othello, Act 5, scene 2, entering Desdemona’s room with a light as she sleeps. He speaks as if he were a judge carrying out a sentence, not a jealous husband: “Yet she must die, else she’ll betray more men.”
“Smooth as Monumental Alabaster”
Othello, in the same speech, resolving not to scar “that whiter skin of hers than snow, / And smooth as monumental alabaster.” He sees her already as a statue on a tomb, beautiful and still.
“Put Out the Light, and Then Put Out the Light”
Othello, looking from his candle to Desdemona. He can put out the candle and light it again, but once he puts out her life, no one can relight it. The line holds his hesitation and his resolve at once.
“Nobody. I Myself. Farewell.”
Desdemona’s last words, when Emilia asks who has killed her: “Nobody. I myself. Farewell. / Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell.” Even dying, she protects her husband.
“O, the More Angel She, and You the Blacker Devil!”
Emilia, when Othello admits the murder and calls Desdemona a liar. The line throws the play’s racist language back at Othello as moral judgment: his deed, not his skin, makes him a devil.
“Demand Me Nothing. What You Know, You Know.”
Iago, exposed and asked why he did it. He refuses to explain, and vows never to speak again. The man who talked everyone into ruin ends in silence.
“One That Loved Not Wisely, but Too Well”
Othello, in his final speech, asking how he should be remembered. He asks the Venetians to “speak of me as I am,” without softening or malice, as “one that loved not wisely, but too well; / Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought, / Perplexed in the extreme.” Readers still debate whether he describes himself truly.
“Threw a Pearl Away Richer Than All His Tribe”
Othello, continuing: he is one “whose hand, / Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away / Richer than all his tribe.” Desdemona was the pearl, and he threw her away in ignorance. The early printings differ here: the 1622 Quarto reads “Indian,” while the 1623 Folio reads “Iudean,” usually taken as “Judean,” possibly meaning Judas.
“I Kissed Thee Ere I Killed Thee”
Othello’s last words, after stabbing himself: “I kissed thee ere I killed thee: no way but this, / Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.” He ends the play as he began the murder, with a kiss.
A Closer Reading: The Villain Who Stops Talking
Most of Othello’s famous lines belong to Iago, and the play ends by contrasting two men’s last words: one who asks to be spoken of, and one who refuses to speak.
Look at the list above. “Wear my heart upon my sleeve,” “I am not what I am,” “Put money in thy purse,” “Who steals my purse steals trash,” “the green-eyed monster,” “Trifles light as air”: all Iago. Words are his only weapon. He never draws his sword until the end; he talks. He talks Roderigo out of his money, Cassio out of his post, and Othello out of his marriage and his mind.
Then, exposed, he falls silent: “Demand me nothing. What you know, you know.” The man who explained everyone else to themselves will not explain himself. His silence is his last act of control. Everyone wants a reason, and he keeps it.
Othello does the opposite. His final speech is all about words, about how his story will be told: “Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate, / Nor set down aught in malice.” He wants his tale written down fairly, the same way he once won Desdemona with “a round unvarnished tale.” The play ends with the storyteller begging for a fair telling and the liar refusing to tell anything. Iago’s words destroyed Othello; Othello’s last hope is that other people’s words will be kinder.
Common Questions
The questions readers ask most often about the quotations of Othello, answered briefly.
What Is the Most Famous Quote from Othello?
“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! / It is the green-eyed monster,” spoken by Iago in Act 3, scene 3. “Wear my heart upon my sleeve” and “one that loved not wisely, but too well” are close behind.
Who Says “the Green-Eyed Monster”?
Iago, warning Othello against jealousy while secretly doing everything he can to make him jealous.
Where Does “Wear My Heart Upon My Sleeve” Come From?
From Iago in the first scene of Othello, explaining that he will never show his true feelings openly, like a heart pinned to a sleeve for birds to peck at.
What Does “Ocular Proof” Mean?
Proof you can see with your own eyes. Othello demands visible evidence that Desdemona is unfaithful, and Iago responds with the handkerchief and a staged conversation.
What Are Othello’s Last Words?
“I kissed thee ere I killed thee: no way but this, / Killing myself, to die upon a kiss,” spoken to Desdemona’s body as he dies.
Related Reading
Three pages that take the language of Othello further.